Love Thy Mermaid
by Panemsheik
Summary: Lela didn't know what to think when she stumbled upon the secret cove on the beach, she also didn't know what to think when she saw mermaids watching her. She also didn't know what to think when one of the mermaids fell in love with her. Lela/Mack
1. Chapter 1

Title: Love thy mermaid

Paring: Mack/Lela, Tanner/Butchy, Brady/Giggles. Mentions Cleo/Louis from H20: Just add water.

Summary: Lela didn't know what to think when she stumbled upon the secret cove on the beach, she also didn't know what to think when she saw mermaids watching her. She also didn't know what to think when one of the mermaids fell in love with her.

Author's notes: this story is an AU. This story takes place in modern times. And is a slight crossover with H20. So instead of when they teamed up with Bella, Mack took Bella's place and has Bella's powers. Also some of the mermaids from Mako Mermaids might make an appearance.

…..

I, Lela Jones, my brother Butchy, his boyfriend Tanner Jackson, our friends Brady Harrison and Giggles Mason, Yes her parents named her giggles were spending our summer in Australia. Our parents thought it would be good to have a bit of culture in our lives and what better way than going to Australia.

"This is going to be so much fun." Giggles smiled as we made our way off the plane. Australia was a lot different that California, first off there were so many more beaches here for us to enjoy. All of us loved surfing. Well almost all of us. Butchy couldn't stand it. He preferred to ride on his bike, which dad said that he couldn't bring on the trip.

'I just can't wait to hit the waves. And you're going to join me right Butchy?" Butchy nodded and gave him a kiss on the lips. Tanner added. He had his arms wrapped around Butchy. Sometimes when Tanner's around I forget that my brother is this macho guy. He's putty when Tanner is near.

"Well, let's go!" Brady smiled running towards the cab that my parents sent. Giggles followed behind. I think that she secretly liked Brady but was too afraid to act on her feelings.

Once we were in the cab we began to take in the sights. There was so much to see.

"So do you know a good place to check out?" I asked the cab driver. He was a cute guy, but not my type. In honesty I preferred girls. No one knew but Butchy and he only knew because he caught me making out with Kiki one night.

"Well, if you want mystery. I suggest Mako Island.'' He said.

"What's Mako Island?" Giggles asked. She wasn't giggling. But all seriousness in her voice.

"Well, Mako Island was formed a long time ago after the comet Eva crashed on Earth. It's said that Mako Island is the host of many mysterious happenings and of course, the mermaids."

"Mermaids?" we all said at the same time.

"Yeah, there have been sightings off the coast of the mainland. Beautiful girls some say. Some even say they saw a male mermaid once."

I sat back. I know it was a myth. But I wanted to check out Mako Island. It seemed like a good place to go.

"Guys, Maybe we should check out Mako Island." I whispered. The all agreed.

…

Hours later after we all got settled into our house I headed down to the marina with everyone else. There was a guy there, the only one on the docks.

"Uh, hello. My name is Lela. I called earlier about heading to Mako Island." I talked to the guy. He didn't turn around. I was being ignored. Butchy hated when people ignored me.

"Hey, my sister is talking to you." He moved towards the guy and tapped him on the shoulder. The guy turned around after feeling the touch. And when he did both Butchy and I were in awe. We couldn't believe who it was.

"Will?" I said. It was shocking. We hadn't seen Will in years. His parents took him away from us freshman year of high school. After an incident. I turned to Butchy, he was frozen. His eyes betraying him as he took in the sight that was, is his ex-boyfriend.

He had ear buds in his ear, probably why he couldn't hear me.

His eyes caught mine first. He gave me a smile that I was too familiar with even though it had been ages.

"Lela?'' his eyes then went to Butchy. ''Butchy? What are you guys doing here?"

I was snapped out of the trance I was in. Will was Butchy's first love, my first crush. I mean Butchy and I actually fought over who Will was going to take to the dance. "Our parents wanted us to spend some time in Australia. But actually I guess you were the one who's supposed to take us to Mako Island."

He leaned back a little. "Mako Island? Do you think it's a good idea? They say the place is dangerous. I wouldn't want you to get hurt." His eyes were mostly on Butchy.

"We can handle it." Tanner stepped forward. He extended his hand. "I'm Tanner. Butchy's boyfriend."

Will took his hand and shook it lightly.

"I'm Giggles.''

"Brady."

After he was introduced to everyone, I managed to convince him that we could handle whatever was on Mako Island. He agreed and we got on his boat.

"You ok?" I asked Butchy. He didn't look at me, he didn't look at anyone.

"This isn't happening right?"

I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know what to say.

…

Mako Island was beautiful, truly it was. I had never seen anything like it before.

"Wow." I said as I got off the boat.

''Yeah. It's a wonderful place. So you guys just want to look around or what?" Will asked.

"We'll look around. Give us an hour to do so?" I asked Will. He nodded and went back to tying his boat.

We went our separate ways. Butchy and Tanner went farther down the beach, away from Will. Brady dragged Giggles into the water. And I headed towards the caves. There was something drawing me there. As I continued to walk I soon fell, but not just falling it was something strange about this fall. I closed my eyes to brace for the impact that would come once I hit the bottom but instead I felt coolness. When I opened my eyes I was wet. I was actually in a pool. Inside of a cave, that was hidden from everyone else. I lifted myself out of the pool and onto the land. I began to search for a way out but found nothing.

It felt as though I had been there for hours. I'm sure my brother was looking for me. He'd never find me. I was stuck here. I looked up. It was night now. The moon was out.

I took a seat on the edge of the pool. I put my feet in the water and when I did the water began to boil. It was weird. But I thought nothing of it. So I went back to thinking. Thinking about everything just to keep my mind off of the situation I was in. and that's when I heard it. Voices. Female voices. I sat up quickly hiding behind a rock that was there and what I saw next shocked me. There were about five people in the water. Four girls and one guy. They reached the pool, and what I saw. It couldn't be real. They had tails. Mermaid tails.

"That was exciting." One of them said. It was a guy.

"Exciting? I nearly lost my tail." This was a girl. A pretty girl. I mean all of them were pretty, but she was the most beautiful.

"Well no one told you to chase after that boat Mack." The guy said to her. So her name was Mack. I moved so I could get a better view of her. Actually that was a bad idea. I hit my toe against the rock.

"Oh crap!" I yelled as I bent down to rub my toe. It was actually a bad idea to wear sandals on a place like this. That drew the attention of the mermaids. I looked up and they all stared at me. This was just great.


	2. Chapter 2

I watched the mermaids. They seemed as surprised as I was. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't move because of my toe, and plus I didn't know the way out.

"Uh, Hi.'' I stammered. I didn't know what to say. The guy mermaid eyed me before getting out of the water. His tail disappeared and was replaced with legs.

"Hi, I'm Zac.'' He extended his hand and I shook it. The others followed suit.

"I'm Lyla." A blonde girl spoke. She was pretty. I was more entranced with her eyes than anything.

The next person that stepped forward was a dark haired girl. She seemed more playful than the others. I could just sense it about her. ''My name is Nixie." She hugged me instead of shaking my hand. The other two seemed more untrusting of me than these three. But they got out the pool and headed towards me. The blonde eyed me before speaking.

"I'm Sirena.'' She didn't shake my hand and after she spoke to me she headed towards the wall and stood there. The final girl, the one that I thought was prettier than all the rest walked towards me and my heart began to pound lightly. She had the most beautiful dark hair, her eyes glowed with the light.

"I'm Mack. What's your name?" she asked.

''Lela. 'I answered.

She shook her head. "So, Lela. What are you doing here on Mako Island?"

"My brother and our friends wanted to visit this place. I got lost and fell. I don't know how to get out.''

''Right.'' Nixie spoke. ''it's kind of complicated for outsiders. That accent isn't from here.''

''I'm from America.''

"Cool." Zac said happily.

''I'll show you the way out.'' Lyla spoke. She began to walk off, the others waving goodbye to me.

''What you saw Lela. You can't tell anyone.'' Lyla said. I nodded.

She led me into a secret part of the island. Moments later I was out and back on the shore. I began to run. Replaying what happened in mind over and over. Mermaids, here, are real.

…

"Where were you?" my brother's voice was panicked once I finally made it back. Giggles was crying and Tanner held my brother, tears streaked his face.

"I got lost.'' I said. It was partly the truth.

"Where did you get lost?" Will asked. His voice was stern. I pointed towards somewhere that was away from the cave.

''over there somewhere. I'm not too sure.''

He looked me over, as though I was lying before sighing.

"Well, we need to get back. I'm sure your parents are worried.'' Will turned and walked back to the boat. Brady and Giggles followed. Butchy gave me a hug before he and Tanner walked away. I looked back at the cave for a moment. Mermaids live there. Five of them. One of them I think I'm in love with.

THE NEXT DAY:

I dreamt of mermaids all night. I couldn't get them out of my head. So I did research on the legend of the Mako mermaids. There has been different stories about them, different legends about that moon pool as well. I was just about to read something on the pool when Butchy called me down for breakfast. I bookmarked the page and headed downstairs. Tanner was by the stove cooking, Butchy helping him while Giggles and Brady set the table. I went to help them when there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it.'' I went to the door but Butchy stopped me.

"Help Tanner. I got it.'' He smiled at me before heading out the kitchen and towards the door.

I was distracted by my thoughts but was alerted when I heard a familiar voice. It was the same voice I heard last night. Zac. He found out where I lived. I dropped the plate that I was holding and headed towards the door. Zac was standing there talking and smiling with Butchy. Zac looked at me as I entered.

"Hello." He acknowledged.

"This is Zac. Zac, this is my sister Lela. Butchy said.

"Hi Zac.'' My voice was monotone as I spoke.

"Zac lives next door and wanted to welcome us and invite us to a party tonight.''

Right. He just so happens to be here. We were here yesterday and I didn't see him when we arrived.

I nodded. "Sure. A party sounds fun.''

/….


	3. Chapter 3

I watched as Zac spoke with my brother, Tanner, Brady and Giggles had come out of the kitchen now to see what was taking us so long. Giggles was watching the amused expression on Tanner's face as Tanner began to stare down Zac, who had his hand resting comfortably on Butchy's arm. I smiled as well, my brother was just one of those people.

"Well, I should be going. Got to plan the party and all." He waved goodbye to us and kissed Butchy on the cheek. I'm not guessing that it's some sort of Australian custom but we lied and told Tanner it was. The glare that he gave the mermaid would not do anyone any good.

Giggles headed upstairs to see what she had to wear, dragging Brady with her so he could tell her what looked good on her. Tanner sulked back into the kitchen. I guess he was getting upset with all the guys showing interest in Butchy.

"Should we really be going to this?" I questioned. Butchy was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels on the television, I took a seat on the arm of the chair next to him. My eyes focusing mildly on the television. My mind being somewhere else.

"Why not? It's the neighborly thing to do. I mean we wanted to get to know the locals." Butchy added as he finally settled on a documentary of Mako Island. How appropriate. The documentary was telling the history of the island, the same we were told yesterday by the cab driver. There were also images of mermaids that people caught on film. I was getting into it when there was a knock on the door. I got up before Butchy, I heard Tanner drop a plate in the kitchen, probably thinking it's another boy to swoon my brother. I chuckled inside.

Half expecting another boy but was instead greeted by Will. He wasn't wearing a shirt, he was also sweating, looking slightly exhausted.

"Are you ok?" I asked him as I grabbed him by the arm and led him inside the house. Butchy caught the other side of him as we laid him on the chair. Something was wrong. He was burning up.

"What happened?" Butchy asked. He was panicking, so was I. We called for Tanner who rushed out, once he saw Will he knew what to do. He bought out some ice and water and towel and began to wipe Will down.

"Lela, go upstairs and get me some more towels." Tanner told me. I nodded and ran upstairs, I went to the hall but there was nothing there. I went into Giggle's room. She was still trying on clothes. Both sets of eyes turned to me when I barged in.

"Le, what's wrong?" Giggles asked. She dropped the dress she was holding.

"Will, something's wrong. Need towels."

"I don't have any. But there is some clean ones in my bathroom."

Brady and Giggles ran past me and downstairs. Possibly to see what they could do to help. I went into her bathroom. It was neat, much unlike her room. I found the towels sitting in a pile on the sink, the sink was also running. How could she not realize that she left that running? As I went to turn it off, my hand got wet. But I felt funny as the water hit me. Something was changing inside of me. It felt like a metamorphosis was happening inside my body. I felt my legs disappear from beneath me and I was on the ground.

"What the heck?" I said quietly. But what caught me was what my legs had become. I looked down to see that my legs had been replaced with a fin. Not just any fin but a mermaid fin. I was a freaking mermaid. I managed to close the door with my tail in case anyone came in. I scooted towards the door so that my back was holding it.

This could not be happening to me. How was this even possible? I needed help. I had no clue how to get rid of it. So I waited.

…

Ten Minutes later:

The tail was slowly disappearing on me. Which was good because I could hear Butchy's voice on the other side of the door.

"Le. Are you ok? You've been up here a long time." He sounded worried.

"I had to use the bathroom." Great lie Lela. "Is Will going to be ok?"

There was silence on the other end. "Butch."

"He's going to be fine. Tanner managed to get his fever down and he called the ambulance. We don't know what happened. All Will said was that he started feeling weird after he left Mako Island. Maybe we shouldn't go to that party tonight."

My tail was gone. I never thought that would happen but I was glad. I got up off the floor and opened the door. Butchy was taken aback by the abruptness and jumped.

"We should go. I mean we could visit Will later in the hospital. Any way they are going to be running test on him anyway."

"I don't think that's a good idea. What if we get sick too?"

I placed my arms around him and led him downstairs.

"If we were sick we would have gotten sick the same time as him. Right? But we didn't so we're fine."

"I…you're right. We should try and enjoy ourselves tonight. But what's with the 180? You didn't want to go and now you do?"

I shrugged, "Change of heart I guess."

…..

**The next chapter will have more Mack/Lela interaction, I promise but I needed this chapter to set up the rest of the story. **


End file.
